Latest Synod Mission and Ministries Commission Actions | May 2024
The Commission met on April 26th and 27th at the Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church in DeWitt, NY, received the following report and took the following actions.
Members of the Susquehanna Valley Administrative Commission met with the Commission to discuss the AC’s final report and some of their insights. The AC built on the work of the previous Special Administrative Review Committee (SARC.) Members of the Commission were gifted with different useful skill sets and functioned in a very transparent manner. This was a real success story which the synod can use as a model for the future in other places if it is needed elsewhere. The Cabinet reached out when they knew they needed assistance. The AC allowed the Cabinet and the Presbytery to focus on fellowship, worship, and various topics of discussion while the AC continued the Presbytery’s work. The Presbytery Leader for Transformation who has been in place for a year reported on his experience coming in and benefiting from the positive atmosphere built by the Administrative Commission. The Synod Commission voted to dissolve the Susquehanna Valley Administrative Commission with much thanks for all the work they did to create this success.
Rev. Brandi Wooten, Connectional Ministries Working Group Convener, reported that there was a special offering in February for the indigenous churches in our synod. There will be a second offering put before the Synod in June. Bulletin inserts are available. The Synod Mission Day is September 28, 2024. It will be devoted to visiting indigenous churches. Presbyteries are asked to advertise this, especially churches near the Brook (New Jersey / New York border) and Shinnecock (east end of Long Island) churches.
Two Emergency Migrant Ministry Grants were approved, each for $5,000. They were awarded to Emergency Shelter Scarborough Presbyterian Church and Warren Point Food Pantry.
Elder Luci Duckson-Bramble, Convener for the Administrative Working Group presented the following motions for Commission approval. The Commission (1) voted to receive the financial report; (2) elected Rev. Jyungin Lee and Elder Thomas McNeil to the Personnel Team; (3) authorized the Leadership Team to elect additional members to the Personnel Team for the Commission to ratify at its September meeting; (4) approved a total grant of $40,000 Presbytery Support Grant for Geneva Presbytery minus $5,000 already provided this year; (5) approved an Overture to the 226th General Assembly which includes the specific geographic boundaries of each of the nineteen presbyteries within the Synod of the Northeast; (6) concurred with Celebration or the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper at the Early Ministry Institute gathering; (7) voted to translate synod grant application forms into Spanish and Korean, with responses continuing to be required in English in the Foundant Grants System; (8) voted to change synod policy and require presbytery endorsement of Emerging Gospel Communities, Innovation, and Youth Leadership grant applications, with an appeal process to be developed by the Administrative Working Group.
Elder Cindy Burger provided the following report from the Mission Working Group with the following grant recommendations:
Innovation Grants
INV-24-01-04 (Year 1)
Coastlands
The Cemetery Project
First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury
$10,000
Our Cemetery Project was launched in 2023 to learn more about the historically African American portion of our Brainerd Cemetery, where 90% of the some 250 graves are unmarked. As a historic church, trying to do both church and history honestly, we understand that we will always be learning, atoning, and transforming. We endeavor to sustain an economy of atonement learning; inviting other congregations into the generative work of honest history telling. A key component of our work is to vigorously apply those lessons to our contemporary context to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
INV-24-04-04 (Year 1)
Susquehanna Valley
Jeremiah Pottery
United Presbyterian Church of Walton
$5,000
Offering multiple hands-on pottery experiences to initiate energy, intelligence, imagination, and love for the 3 Presbyteries (Susquehanna Valley, Cayuga Syracuse, and Utica) as the church leaders and pastors are about to begin sharing their mission resources crossing the geographical boundaries.
"Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand," the LORD says in Jeremiah 18:6. The invitation is to visit a local potter, play with clay, and experience what God is doing in their personal life as well as learning from each other in building community in a new perspective.
INV-24-10-04 (Year 1)
Coastlands
Trenton Microloan Collaborative (TMC)
Westminster Presbyterian Church
$15,000
Our Vision: We seek to create a community where entrepreneurs who are formerly incarcerated find
connections, resources, and opportunities to thrive.
Our Mission: TMC provides zero-interest loans, accounting, and ongoing support to entrepreneurs who
are formerly incarcerated, for the purpose of fostering thriving businesses.
Our Values: Supporting the Individual potential of every person, Cultural competence & cultural
humility Acceptance, Mutual respect, Welcoming & affirming Non-judgment, Every voice matters,
Community engagement Celebration, Representative & diverse leadership
INV-24-12-04 (Year 1)
Hudson River
Drumming for the Soul
First Presbyterian Church of Ossining
$9,000
First Presbyterian Church of Ossining understands that people want and need to experience new styles of worship. By bringing drumming worship styles we will be fulfilling a need for people who are not necessarily connected with Sunday worship services. This will be an intergenerational program.
We would like children, youth and adults to see all the colors of the rainbow. We hope to see people not connected or affiliated to any organization/institution find a source of spiritual guidance through our drumming sessions.
INV-24-13-04 (Year 1)
Geneva
Accessible Entry
Christ the King Fellowship Presbyterian Church
$10,000
At Christ the King church, entry into the church is problematical. Sitting on a corner lot, the front and side has no parking. The main entrance, therefore, is from our parking lot in the rear of the church. That entrance has a steep ramp which is definitely not up to handicapped code. Besides our church congregation getting older and requiring more walkers and wheelchairs, we have been successful in developing community relationships with many more groups utilizing the building. Modifying the entrance to make it handicapped accessible will enable us to make additional use of the building.
INV-24-16-04 (Year 1)
Susquehanna Valley
Hospital Chaplaincy Outreach, Education, and Mentorship
Broome County Council of Churches
$6,000
From the beginning of life in Labor and Delivery and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to the end of life in Palliative Care, all people matter in their most tender healthcare moments. With the connection of volunteers called to provide light to those in recovery within the Rehab center to provide gentle care to those leaving this life for the next, it is this very spark that reminds us of God's love in all times and places, especially the hospital system. This project will build a team of volunteers and resources to care for one’s spiritual needs while obtaining care for one’s healthcare needs.
INV-24-18-04 (Year 1)
Coastlands
Food Pantry Expansion
First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen
$11,000
The vision of the First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen’s Food Pantry Expansion Project is to address the root causes of food insecurity. The pantry provides more than food, it:
Connects pantry clients with supportive services to help them achieve economic security.
Educates the congregation and community about the causes, and solutions, for food insecurity.
Creates joyful events for our clients, such as providing home-cooked dinners in a welcoming environment and a free holiday “store” to shop for gifts.
We will use this grant to expand our food pantry space to fulfill this vision.
INV-24-19-04 (Year 1) Asylum Support Clinic at Rutgers Presbyterian Church $10,000 New York City Rutgers Presbyterian Church
The Asylum Support Clinic at Rutgers Presbyterian Church helps fill an enormous gap by assisting asylum seekers who lack legal assistance to file asylum applications that reduce the challenge and trauma of the process while also giving them the best chance at prevailing in court.
ASC, a volunteer-driven, free clinic, involves a series of in-person meetings over the course of seven-weeks per cycle. Throughout the year ASC holds 5 cycles each year, we are able to build trust; draft thorough applications using the asylum seekers’ own words; and better prepare them to continue on their own.
INV-24-21-04 (Year 1) Disability Ministry: Beyond Limits Ministry $8,000 Southern New Jersey First Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield
The Presbyterian Church of Haddonfield is committed to creating an environment that is welcoming and safe for ALL of God’s people – regardless of special needs and disabilities. We seek to be a welcoming and fully inclusive body of Christ. In so doing, we are committed to not just be the kind of church Christ calls us to be, but also model a community where all people are welcomed., blessed and fully included. With intention we strive to support full participation of people with disabilities in all aspects of congregational life; spiritually, physically and programmatically.
INV-24-22-04 (Year 2)
Southern New England
Westminster Community Hub for Mental Health Support
Westminster Presbyterian Church
$7,000
Westminster Presbyterian Church is creating a safe, secure, supportive space for individuals and organizations by providing a mental health resource hub for the West Hartford community. The role of the Westminster community hub will be to identify gaps that exist in mental health awareness, education, training, and access to services and work to fill those gaps by providing support, education, training, volunteers, and access to resources to strengthen and amplify the work of the many governmental and nonprofit organizations in our community.
INV-24-23-04 (Year 2)
New York City
Common Ground Worship Collective
Common Ground
$4,000
The vision, as we articulated last year, remains the same. As a NWC begun in 2019, we've centered on leadership development & creating equitable community practices in the Jesus Way. Our community is an intersectional community training people into radical belonging through decentralizing leadership & interrogating supremacy culture. Our programming includes small groups, community events, trainings, retreats and other experience-based learning modules that teach diversity, equity, and inclusion rooted in the Jesus Way. With this project, we continue to hope toward a more just & generous world!
Campus Ministry
CM-24-01-04 | The United Campus Ministry to UNH DBA The Waysmeet Center
$3500 | NorthernNewEngland | UniversityofNewHampshire
The United Campus Ministry to UNH / The Waysmeet Center creates positive change through direct service grounded in compassion, equity, and social justice in the NH Seacoast and surrounding communities. We provide direct service in a myriad of ways, and our largest program and service that we provide is fighting food insecurity through our Cornucopia Food Pantry on our bottom floor. Some of our greatest values as an organization are inclusivity and abundance, and this is illustrated in all parts of what we do, including our service through our food pantry.
Youth Leadership Development
YLD-24-01-04 (Year 1) | Seneca Falls Ecumenical Youth Group
$7,500 | Geneva | TheFirstPresbyterianChurchofSenecaFalls,NY
Our goal is to provide space and opportunities for the youth, grades 6-12, in Seneca Falls to build connections. We will do this by hosting monthly arcade games, board games, and dance nights in the church. The middle schoolers would meet from 6-8pm and the high schoolers from 8-10pm.
Motion: That $7,500 be transferred from the Higher Education Fund surplus into the Youth and Young Adult Leadership Development Fund.